Bible 101

Lesson 2: Who decided what the finished Bible should look like?

The Dead Sea Scrolls

Now that we have identified the canonical writings of both the OT and NT, as well as the other writings, known as the apocrypha and the writings of the Apostolic Fathers, there is a third set of manuscripts that needs to be addressed: the Dead Sea Scrolls (10).

The writings known as the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered about 1947 in Qumran, a mile or so west of the Dead Sea. Dating of the manuscripts shows them to be from the last century BC and the first century AD. The manuscripts that make up the collection of the Dead Sea Scrolls contain fragments from every book of the OT, except Esther. Additionally, several manuscripts belonging to the apocrypha have been found as well.

While these discoveries aid the researcher in determining the validity of the various manuscripts, it does little to establish or tear down the idea of canonicity of certain manuscripts over others. Considering that these writings were found near the site of an early Jewish “monastery”, and is attributed to the scribes within a community that had separated itself from the priesthood in Jerusalem over presumably doctrinal differences; therefore, the writings, for all their archaeological value, are still the collection of a sect of Judaism with its own beliefs and agenda.
What the Dead Sea Scrolls do establish, however, is that we have accurate copies of the Biblical manuscripts, which we could previously only trace to about 100 AD.

Congratulations! You have now finished the second lesson of Bible 101, and should be rather astute with respect to the variety of Biblical and extra-biblical manuscripts. Why not test your knowledge now by doing the Lesson 2 Knowledge Quiz?

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